I’m often asked for suggestions on cross-pollinating marketing efforts. There are so many ways to do so, it’s hard to know where to start. Perhaps the best approach is to make a list of all your customer touchpoints. Common ones include:
– Website
– Catalog
– Enewsletter
– Facebook page
– YouTube channel
– Blog
– Twitter feed
– Customer service calls
Often overlooked ones include:
– Order confirmations
– Shipping notices
– Packing slips
– Shipping boxes
– Email welcome series
– Email signature
– Phone message
… and no doubt, I’ve missed quite a few.
Once you have the list, think about which actions would be most valuable to you. Sign up for your enewsletter? Subscribe to your blog? Become a Facebook fan? Choose just one to start, and mention it every chance you get.
For instance, if you want more email subscribers, here are a few things you can try:
• Place a sign-up box in a prominent position on every page of your website
• Include a newsletter archive on your site so people can see what they’re signing up for
• Use a small section of your catalog to highlight newsletter benefits and invite signups
• Repeat the newsletter benefits on order confirmations, shipping notices and/or packing slips
• Post “teaser copy” about upcoming newsletters on your Facebook page
• Post a link to your enewsletter after it’s published
• Add a newsletter signup tab to your Facebook page
• Publish a blog post with links to your most popular enewsletters
• Have customer service reps suggest that subscribing to your enewsletter will help answer additional questions
• Add a newsletter signup box to your email signature
After you’ve concentrated on one goal for a while, switch things up and cross-pollinate something else.
When you stop and think about it, you have loads of opportunities to talk to your customers. With just a little planning, chances are you can get more out of nearly every interaction.
